Long Beach: Mechanical Panda Dial Racing Chronograph Watch

€25,520

89

Aramar Long Beach Racing Chronograph

It is time for a watch with the buzz of those cool panda dial racing chronographs of the sixties and seventies with a manually wound mechanical chronograph and modern proportions.

The Long Beach Racing Chronograph is a mechanical wristwatch that includes a “stop-watch” feature. We are Aramar, an independent designer and producer of wrist watches founded in 2010 and based in The Netherlands.

Two of a kind (courtesy of Monochrome-Watches)

The Dial

The classically styled panda dial catches your eye immediately. We put in a lot of effort to make this dial stand out. The dial has been custom-made and is exquisitely detailed featuring appliedsilver baton markers and subtlety recessed “pie-tin” subsidiary dials like the Omega Speedmaster e.g.

Courtesy of Monochrome-Watches

Subtle dots of C3 Superluminova have been applied for a bright long lasting lume so your Long Beach is also easy to read in the dark. On the outside of the dial sits the tachymeter ring so you can measure speed in km/h.

C3 Superluminova

The Hands

All the hands are custom-made, silver and feature C3 Superluminova for excellent readability at night. The lollipop styled chrono hand has a red tip. The seconds hand and minute counter hands on the subsidiary dials are bright white for excellent legibility.

The Case

The custom-made case is made from high-grade 316L steel and finished with brushed and polished facets thus creating a well-balanced design.

We have made the case a fair bit larger than those of vintage racing chronographs. The case is 38mm in diameter x 14mm high and 46mm tip-to-toe. Don't let the 38mm size put you off, the shape and height of the case make that it wears a lot bigger then you would expect. We have included a picture of the Long Beach on a really large 22cm/8.7" wrist to illustrate this.

On a small 17cm/6,7" wrist

On a LARGE 22cm/8.7inch wrist

The Crown

The crown, used for winding the watch and setting the time, is positioned at the 3 o'clock position. The crown is custom-designed and slim, the Aramar logo is engraved.

Engraved crown

The Crystal

For the crystal we chose to use a domed acrylic crystal, this material also known as Hesalite gives the Long Beach that warm and vintage feel that we were looking for. And yes, it might scuff a bit more easily then mineral crystal and sapphire crystal. But unlike those two options acrylic crystal can be easily polished to remove these scratches quickly. It doesn't matter if it's one day old or five years old; a dab of Polywatch, Brasso or even some toothpaste and the crystal will be as good as new.

Domed Acrylic Crystal

The Strap

A great quality black genuine leather racing strap 18mm wide at the case tapering down to 16mm at the buckle matches the dial perfectly.

The Movement

The movement inside the Long Beach is a special one; it oozes history. Originally developed by Fabrique d'Ebauches Venus S.A in the 1940's, the Venus 175 was used by high-end watch manufacturers like Breitling and Minerva. When Venus decided to develop a new movement, the 180, they searched for buyers for their Venus 175 caliber. In China the Sea-Gull Corporation was looking for a movement to power their first air-force pilot's chronograph, the Tianjin based company bought everything from the Venus company, the rights, the machines, blueprints etc. that were used to produce the Venus 175. So basically it is the Venus 175 produced in China. Seagull is now one of the world's largest watch manufacturers. The Seagull ST-19 is a Swiss designed21 jewel column wheel handwinder chronograph. Column wheel chronographs are quite rare and for a reason, they are much more expensive to build then a cam lever chronograph movement. Yet the plus side of a column wheel chronograph is that it functions more precise and has really smooth pusher action. Also, this movement is beautifully decorated with "Côtes de Genève" stripes and blue screws. That is the main reason we chose to equip this watch with a see-through caseback, so the movement can be seen in all its beauty.

See-through caseback (courtesy of Monochrome-Watches)

ST-19 (courtesy of Monochrome-Watches)

Pricing

We have kept the price as reasonable as possible. First of all by selling directly to you, but also by keeping our overhead costs low. We prefer to keep both feet on the ground and let you have an exceptional good price for a great watch. The watch will be build by the same factory that we have successfully worked with before on models like the Sea Fury and Sea Vixen. We have funded the development of this watch out of our own pockets and the watch is ready for production as it is. You will have an awesome watch at an unbelievable good price. The first 75 backers will get a Super Early Bird price of just Eur. 249,- .

Courtesy of Monochrome-Watches

Monochrome-Watches Review

Internationally renowned site Monochrome-Watches has written a review on the Aramar Long Beach. Please click on the picture to read it.

Stretch Goal #1 REACHED!

If we reach $17.500 we will make an extra strap available! The Fluco Hunter Cognac, you can see it in some photos already! The Hunter strap is of excellent quality and is handmade in Germany.

Fluco Hunter Cognac

Normally this strap costs €39.95 in The Netherlands but it will be available to you at only €25,-

Stretch Goal #2

When we reach €27.500, you will be able to order this very nice canvas watch roll with suède lining for just €10,-. You will be able to easily and safely transport up to five of your watches when you travel!

Canvas Suède Watch roll

Stretch Goal #3

When we reach €30.000,- we are going to develop two new types of dials for the Long Beach. This will take some time as prototypes will have to be developed to insure our excellent quality. Backers of the original Long Beach will be the first in line!

First up is the Aramar Long Beach Reverse Panda, another take ona classical dial like the normal Panda dial but the other way around!

Long Beach Reverse Panda

The second dial will be a Reverse Panda in blue, we are working hard on this one, finding the right kind of blue, vibrant? midnight? sunburst or not?

Long Beach Reverse Panda Blue

Master watchmaker

We are very proud to have a master watchmaker collaborating with us on this project, every watch will be inspected before delivery and if there are any warranty issues we will be able to fix the problem in-house immediately. This is one of the things that distinguishes Aramar from other watch brands

Warranty

Each watch comes with a one year warranty.

Courtesy of Monochrome-Watches

The Timeline

The Aramar Long Beach was designed in The Netherlands and will be manufactured in China. Everything is in place to quickly start serial production of the Long Beach. Once the campaign finishes, we will place the order at our factory in January. The timeline we've put together factors in Chinese New Year. We are expecting delivery in May 2018.

Throughout the manufacturing and quality control phases, we will keep all backers updated here on Kickstarter, on our Facebook page and via email.

Water resistance rating

The Aramar Long Beach has a water resistance rating of 3 atm. or 30m, this means that it is suitable for everyday use and splash/rain resistant. Please note that is is not suitable for showering, bathing, swimming, snorkeling, water related work, fishing, and diving.

Specifications:

Shipping

Based in the Netherlands we will ship with PostNL to our Dutch customers, worldwide we will only use DHL. DHL is the best, fastest and most reliable courier we have worked with and we think that their price is more than worth their service. When backing the project, you will be asked where you wish your watch to be shipped to and the appropriate fee will be added to your pledge. Sadly we can't ship to Russia. If you're outside the EU, you will need to confirm any import duties you may be required to pay with your local customs office.

Support

We need your support to make the Long Beach happening!

Your funding will help us get this watch into production. Development has already been done, multiple revisions of prototypes have been made and we have got a watch ready for production at our hands. We only need a relatively small amount of orders to get production going but more importantly you get the chance to be one of the first owners of the Aramar Long Beach at a very special price!

The Aramar Long Beach needs pledging but above all it needs your attention and interest! If you love this product as much as we do then please take a moment to click on one of our social media buttons (Facebookand Instagram). Help us spread the word and get production started!

Prototypes

The watches we are showing you in this campaign are prototypes, although these are production ready pre-production watches, it is always possible that we will make minor changes.

Risks and challenges

With any project, there are always risks associated with manufacturers not being able to deliver products on time, or design decisions causing the project to be delayed or halted all together. We have minimized these risks by funding multiple prototypes and a prototype production run of our product to ensure that all design elements are finalized and the manufacturer is completely ready to produce our product.